How To Be Good at Yoga

“No techniques are required in yoga, just surrender! It is only necessary to do whatever our systems are naturally willing to do.” - Yoga of Heart

As a yoga instructor, I have a lot of friends tell me they’re not “good” at yoga. Let’s clear this one up. Yoga is a word that comes from the root “yuj” which means to yolk- like an egg yolk. It is the connection of the mind, body, and spirit into a complete being and in that completion reaching the understanding that it is the same as the connection to the greater oneness that we all possess and are part of. 

And if all of that sounds like much, let’s look at an example. When you are at a restaurant and the waiter is taking a while are you thinking something along the lines of, “where’s this waiter, he’s definitely not getting a tip tonight, how dare he take 5 minutes to serve me my sparkling water,” or are you on the side of “wow he must be having a tough night, I am so grateful to be in a position where I can have the fortune to dine here and be in the presence of other humans enjoying a meal”. Yes, being nice to the waiter IS yoga! 

Here’s another one. When you’re skiing are you checking your latest apps to see how much vert you got that day and comparing it to your friends and pushing your body further than it wants to go so you can compete, have you taken off the earbuds for a moment and felt totally at peace while taking a quiet moment in the trees? Yes, connecting to nature IS yoga. 

Ok one more - have you ever been driving and an amazing song came on the radio and you missed your exit because you were totally lost in the music? Yes, being fully immersed in music IS yoga too!

Now a disclaimer, being on either side of these situations isn’t a bad thing! Sometimes we have hard days and don’t treat people the way we mean to. Sometimes we just want to have a fun day with our technology. There’s nothing wrong with these events, however, when we realize them, we are able to make better informed decisions of how and when we want to be connected...Yes, self forgiveness and reflection IS yoga too ;-)

Yoga is connecting to ourselves, our surroundings, and each other. So the next time you feel a little judged by Ms. 5ft 11 in a matching Lulu outfit with her leg over her head. Ask yourself, were you nice to the waiter today?